So, I’ve been wanting to write about the films Waitress and Knocked Up for a week now but I haven’t found the time.  Well, The NYTimes beat me to it! Well, duh, it’s such an obvious connection but they mostly talked about the reluctance of Hollywood to show a movie with a woman even seriously pondering an abortion.

The aspect of Waitress I enjoyed was that it shows how pregnancy can interrupt a married woman’s life as well.  It helps break the myth in popular culture that if you’re married, any pregnancy is a wanted–even if unplanned– pregnancy.   Knocked UP offers the usual fare of “oops we’re having a baby.” Don’t get me wrong, it was hilarious but the ending didn’t surprise me at all.  I thought it presented a much more honest portrayal of marriage than pregnancy.

But yeah neither film even mentioned the word abortion.  I have researched and written about this topic immensely these past few months, the way abortion is portrayed in pop culture.  So the message is loud and clear, no woman is having an abortion on TV or film.  Sure there’s an abortion storyline every few years on TV but thats every FEW years.  Not matching up with statistics at all.

I watched Children of Men last month on a transatlantic flight.  I knew what it was about but kept thinking that the pro-lifers (the scary ones) must have loved the premise of the film.  Of course, the crazy liberals and their abortions would cause all the women in the world to suffer from infertility.  I did like Children of Men but couldn’t help think of all the hidden (unintended?) messages in it.  And what is it with every “end of the humanity” movie taking place in the UK?  28 Days later…anyone?

I HATE repeating point especially here but I don’t get why fictional TV and movies will deal with EVERY controversial subject except this one.  Or maybe its every American movie…a foreign film that features an abortion, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, just won the Palme d’Or.  But even Maria Full of Grace had its heroine carrying cocaine (i think?) in her belly next to her embryo across the border.  I mean if a drug smuggler can’t have an abortion on film, who can?